Official found drunk last year

Friday

Jul 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2011 at 3:33 PM

A Dayton-area state lawmaker charged with drunken driving a week ago was found intoxicated and passed out on a vehicle in the Riffe Center's parking garage last year, according to State Highway Patrol reports obtained by The Dispatch.

David Eggert, The Columbus Dispatch

A Dayton-area state lawmaker charged with drunken driving a week ago was found intoxicated and passed out on a vehicle in the Riffe Center’s parking garage last year, according to State Highway Patrol reports obtained by The Dispatch.

At 1:05 a.m. on March 24, 2010, security at the state office tower, which houses state representatives’ offices, called the State Highway Patrol to report a suspicious person in the garage. A trooper responded to find an intoxicated Rep. Jarrod Martin leaning on a vehicle, breathing but unable to be awaked on repeated attempts, says an incident log.

The Columbus Division of Fire was called. The Beavercreek Republican was treated by a medic at the scene and released shortly after 4 a.m. to Mike Dittoe, then with the GOP House campaign team and now communications director for House Republicans. Dittoe had been sent by Rep. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican and veteran lawmaker who was back in his district.

The patrol has a post in the Statehouse across the street from the Riffe Center.

Patrol spokeswoman Lt. Anne Ralston said yesterday that there was no probable cause to arrest Martin for a DUI-type offense.

When asked why he was not charged with public intoxication, Ralston said: “Coming across a person that’s publicly intoxicated and making sure they’re medically OK and releasing that person to a licensed, sober driver isn’t something that’s out of the ordinary.”

The trooper and his supervisor, who also was at the scene, had the discretion to issue a citation or not, she said. Ralston said it cannot be ascertained from the incident log whether Martin was passed out on his own vehicle or someone else’s.

Republican leader William G. Batchelder of Medina was informed later that morning, Dittoe said.

“There was no arrest, no criminal charges, so there was no additional action that then-Minority Leader Batchelder needed to take,” Dittoe said last night.

Dittoe said when he picked up Martin on the east side of the Statehouse — about three hours after the lawmaker was discovered slumped over the vehicle — he showed no signs of being intoxicated. He walked on his own to Dittoe’s vehicle and into the nearby location where he was staying with other legislators, Dittoe said.

“All I understood, he was sick or something,” said Dittoe, awakened at his Hilliard home by Amstutz. “It was never indicated to me what the problem was.”

While not referring to last year’s incident with Martin, Batchelder said yesterday the recent string of legal troubles for Ohio Republicans has been a central topic of discussion for lawmakers.

The latest incident came when Martin was charged with drunken driving and child endangerment. He was pulled over last Friday with children in his car and refused to take a field sobriety test, a breath test or a blood test. The Dayton Daily News reported that he did not want to appear on the cruiser’s dash cam shirtless and sweaty.

Martin issued a statement on Monday saying he regretted last week’s incident and looked forward to the opportunity to “vindicate myself in court.”

Martin’s arrest was the third incident involving Republicans recently.

The resignation of Cincinnati-area state Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, who quit this month after failing to disclose his arrest in Indiana on a drunken-driving charge, takes effect next week. The wife of state Sen. Kris Jordan, R-Powell, called 911 on a domestic-violence complaint on July 11, saying her husband had been drinking and had a gun, after pushing her around and threatening her.

Dispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland contributed to this story.